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Thursday, 25 June 2015

Break out the champagne - I've finally finished my Chuck sweater, Andi Satterlund's cute cable knit pattern. This is the second in my year long knitting projects, the first being my crazy lace cardigan. I can hardly believe I started this in August last year - but I guess to be fair, I did take a break from knitting over the summer. I'm really pleased to have finished it in time to get some wear out of if this winter.

Having just knitted Andi's Myrna Cardigan before I started this made following the pattern much easier. I made a size small and adjusted the sleeve to full length as it seemed a bit more more practical.

The yarn I used was Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in Mallard which was nice to knit with, though I did have a couple of tangling issues along the way. I have read some terrible reviews on Ravelry about this particular yarn, mostly saying that it pills really badly. I'll have to keep my fingers crossed that it doesn't - I'm so happy with how it turned out and it's lovely and soft to wear. It did grow quite a lot when I blocked it though, so it was definitely worth doing a gauge swatch first.

I must confess to a small mistake along the way - I missed one of the cables and by the time I realised I was miles ahead. I'm really bad at picking up stitches after frogging back, so I decided to leave it.

I did try and fix it afterwards using the darning method in this post that my good friend and knitting guru Marylou sent me. It's a pretty nifty trick but I didn't do too well with it as the yarn was just too dark to be able to see what I was doing properly. Thankfully my mistake is strategically placed so that you can't see it unless you're looking where you shouldn't be!

These photos aren't the best but I wanted to get this post out before I head off on my summer holiday to the States - woohoo! So, sorry Chuck, you'll be put away again until I return.

Saturday, 6 June 2015

My third post on topping up my tops and another Gertie pattern. This time it's the Portrait Blouse from her first book "Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing" - yes, it's been out for years and this is the first thing I've actually made from it. I did attempt one of the dress patterns some time ago when I first got it but I had all sorts of trouble with the sizing and never ended up finishing it.

I'm pleased to say the Portrait Blouse was a breeze to sew - quick and easy, it came together in an afternoon. I sewed a size 4 with no fitting changes needed. The waist shaping comes from little dart tucks which I really like the look of. One thing that made it quick was that I used an invisible zipper instead of hand picking one - not quite so vintage but I'm not ashamed to admit it - if I can take a short cut, I will - and if it means less hand stitching, all the better.

The fabric which came from Spotlight is a cotton voile with a cute atomic print with eiffel towers on it. The voile works really well with this blouse and makes a nice cool summer top, I'm pretty certain I'll be making more of these!

About Me

Piano teacher by day and Singer by night. At other times of the day you'll find me stitching away like a mad woman. This blog is where I share my sewing adventures and discoveries, with a little bit of knitting thrown in as well. I hope you enjoy!